Colca Canyon

Trip Start Feb 15, 2008
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Trip End May 31, 2008


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Where I stayed
Lodges in Colca Canyon
(Arequipa hotels)

Flag of Peru  ,
Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Next we were off on a tour to explore the Colca Canyon which lies 160km northwest of Arequipa. There were 8 of us in total including our guide 'Roy'. We met up at the bus Arequipa bus terminal to commence the 6 hour bus trip to Cabanaconde where we would begin our hike. The group included myself, Mike from Ireland, Katie and Merit from the states, Christine and Feena from Germany and my friend Ale from Arequipa. The first part of the tour involved descending 1200 meters into the Canyon, starting from a height of 3300 meters. The Canyon is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA, though not so wide. The first day's walk took about four hours and the views were spectacular. At this time of year the vegetation along the sides of the canyon is very green as the rainy season has just finished. The trails into and out of the Canyon are pre Incan and are still used today by the traditional folk who live down in the canyon. It is very common to pass men and woman leading donkeys up or down the trails to take produce up to market or bring supplies down to their villages A view out the bus window as we ascended
A view out the bus window as we ascended
 .
After reaching the bottom of the canyon we passed over a bridge then soon after arrived at San Juan de Chuccho village which is a beautiful lodge by the river with no electricity. The food and accommodation at this lodge are great. There are also showers, though they're cold, and flush toilets. Mike and I got into a few of card games with the American girls which passed some time in the evening. Beers are available, though marked up by 200%, well it is quite an effort bringing them all the way down to the canyon, though that's still works out at only about AU$3.30 for 750ml.
On the second day we passed a number of other villages along the canyon, one of which had a small museum that displayed some history of the people who have lived in the Canyon. We also stopped along the trail and ate some of the exotic fruits that are grown there. The whole way along the canyon, terraced agricultural plots are serviced by an ingenious network of irrigation channels which bring fresh clean water from the glacial melts. That afternoon we arrived at Sangalle Village. This village had been abandoned some time ago and has now been turned into another lodge for hikers. There are swimming pools with 20º C water which comes from inside one of the mountains. This lodge is very basic with bungalows made of bamboo and dirt floors. The evening meal consisted of rice and fish caught from the river that afternoon; it wasn't that good.
The third day involved waking up at 2.30am and setting off at 3am to trek up hill (but via a different route to what which we used to descend) and returning to Cabanaconde using headlamps which took 3 hours In the village of Cabanaconde
In the village of Cabanaconde
 . On arrival at the small restaurant in town breakfast was waiting for us. Whilst returning we stopped at the most visited point in the Colca Valley "the Cruz Del Condor", but there were no condors to be seen. Mike, the Irishman explained that it was birthing season for Sea Lions in Patagonia and that most of the condors congregate there to at this time of year to gorge themselves on sea lion placentas. We then stopped a this really nice restaurant at Chivay on the way back where we had a buffet lunch of traditional Peruvian food, though it was still only 11am. I had to explain to Mike that, given the circumstances, 11am was not too early for beer. This trip served as some good training for climbing the 5825m Volcano called 'Misti' which we set off for the following day.
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